Make it Like Manatees

Summer is manatee mating season. For nearly an entire week these gentle marine mammals went at it continually. Their stamina is amazing. Every time I looked out over the river there was live action manatee porn. (Massive mounds of mating manatees) When I ask wife about that we should make it like the manatees she laughed and said something about me being a dirty old man and not having the same staying power.

But making babies is only a part of what manatees are all about. Since mating season ended the manatees have stayed to graze, sleep, raise their young, and play in the muddy shallows behind our home. I have been amazed at their playfulness and just how far they will come out of the water to get a manatee snack. In the late afternoons groups of 10 or more will congregate and play some sort of a game that can be best described as a group wrestling match. Once a small 3 ft) alligator ventured into the herd and several of the manatees played what could be best described as alligator volleyball. They weren’t being cruel just having fun at the gator’s expense. Still other times I have seen them crawl out of the water to eat vegetation that is near but not in the water.

Once a mother and a young baby came and stayed close enough to the dock that we were able to observe mom and baby interact, graze, and love. Watching them long enough it is easy to tell that they are much like their terrestrial cousins the elephants.

Manatees in many ways have it better than we humans. Manatees don’t care about politics, they don’t care about money, and they don’t care about power or prestige. They don’t care about their looks or what others say about them. They don’t care anything about all the stuff that clutters our lives. All they care about is eating, sleeping, pooping, playing, hanging out, mating, raising their young, and looking out for boat propellers. They do all this while hurting no one in the process.

Maybe we humans could learn something from these massive yet gentle creatures. Focus on the stuff that really matters, faith, family, friends, and food. Everything else is just clutter that prevents us from living satisfying lives. Maybe we should make it like the manatees.